Mr.
Weir:Fulcrum
Labs enables companies to meet or exceed their learning and development
(L&D) KPIs. It’s a cloud-based, SaaS business solution that is, first and
foremost, outcomes driven; and arms L&D leaders with measurable, actionable
data in order to objectively address performance and training needs at the
C-level. Fulcrum’s mission is to turn students or employees into learners
and turn learners into confident subject matter masters.

Fulcrum’s 3.0 adaptive
training platform leverages AI, Machine Learning and data-science-driven
predictive analytics by correlating on-the-job performance data with
learning data to: reduce training times and costs; verify employee
confidence and skills mastery; identify those at risk of not applying the
training; and evaluate the integrity of course content. Fulcrum’s platform
can also assess an organization’s training gaps and the efficacy of existing
L&D delivery systems.

CEOCFO: Would you
give us a couple of examples; one fairly simple and one a little more
complex, on how you can adapt to a student?

Mr. Weir:Fulcrum’s platform acts
a lot like a virtual one-on-one coach for each person. It uses AI and
machine learning to deliver complex adaptations... or adjustments to the
learner’s pathway… in real time. It’s targeting Optimal Challenge, the
learner’s sweet spot, just above their current ability. It’s
evaluating input data such as answer choices,
complexity and weight of questions, time, and also learner behavior to
achieve an optimal level of challenge for the individual employee. This
enables employees to move through the training at a pace that’s appropriate
to their knowledge level and experience. For example, employees who have a
lot of prior knowledge/experience can quickly demonstrate mastery and move
on, while employees who need more remediation can take the time to fully
master the fundamental competencies.

At the
most complex level, Fulcrum developed a proprietary system called Behavior &
Knowledge Mapping (BKM) to analyze how learners act within the system and
serve up the most appropriate piece of content. For example, just like in a
one-on-one coaching environment, the system takes into account if a learner
pauses before answering a question (indicating uncertainty) or even clicks
on a different answer prior to making their final selection (indicating the
user’s thought process/reasoning). Our system then applies these insights to
serve up content that’s appropriate for each learner – not just based on
their knowledge, but also, as I said, based on their behavior. At a more
simplistic level, our system provides intelligent targeted hints and
“good-to-know” information tailored to each answer selection on each
adaptive assessment; it also delivers timed memory boosters to counteract
the forgetting curve and improve retention. This process propels learners
toward mastery of the material and helps them self-remediate more
effectively.

CEOCFO: How do you
identify what is the right path for any given person?

Mr.
Weir:Since I’ve already talked a bit about adaptivity and AI’s
role in identifying and adjusting the learner’s path in our platform, I’d
like to talk about how we also empower the learner with some control over
their own learning pathway… and why. While adaptive technology can be an
incredibly powerful part of learning, and it’s a hot topic right now, we see
adaptivity as just one part of the larger picture of personalization.

So, for example, while our
platform controls what content and level of difficulty learners are served,
it also gives them control… autonomy over their own pathway, by allowing
them to choose how to engage with the content. They can read content (think
text and images, like an eBook), watch content (via video, motion graphics,
animation such as Camtasia, Articulate 360 Storyline,AR/VR-enabled
training or any other form of multimedia content), go straight into practice
with interactive assessments, or do a combination of all three.

They also have the
opportunity to self-remediate through our learner dashboard and its My
Learning Plan feature, which highlights un-mastered material and points
users toward content that needs more review—ranked from biggest to smallest
knowledge gap. We’ve found that providing employees more opportunities to
control and take responsibility of their own learning makes them more
invested/engaged in the training and improves outcomes in the long run. And
our anecdotal findings are supported by the scientific studies that
demonstrate how important autonomy and control are within the learning
environment – improving learner attention and engagement, encouraging innovating thinking and
problem-solving and deepening long-term memory consolidation.

CEOCFO: Is this all
done through technology? What goes into programming the system so that it
will pick up the various nuances? Is there human element, perhaps, as you
are working with different companies or different courses?

Mr. Weir:Yes and no. Our
automated platform is pioneering and pushing the envelope of adaptive 3.0 –
leveraging machine learning algorithms and AI to make real time intelligent
adaptations, behavioral analyses and data predictions (and overcome some of
the traditional shortfalls of adaptive learning technology). That said, we
do some “human” work. For example, data science, one of our core
competencies, is supported by the system’s AI and machine learning
capabilities, and our data science team helps interpret the data and fine
tunes courses. We also have a strong client success team that helps us
connect one-to-one with clients to track their specific goals. This “human”
element allows us to collaborate with partners to develop the most effective
platform possible by extrapolating external performance data and feeding it
back into the system.

CEOCFO: Is the
adaptive learning approach becoming more popular? Are clients turning to you
because they recognize the difference and you have that? Also, how important
are the reality based outcomes? Are people looking at that initially as
well?

Mr.
Weir:Within the last year
we’ve meet a lot of Fortune 500 CLOs and L&D teams who already have a base
awareness of what adaptive learning is and how it can benefit their
organization. They’ve either seen the technology in action or they’ve read
enough about it that they’re interested in learning more about our approach.
And, based on their input, one of the things that’s appealing to them about
our technology is not just our use of advanced AI and machine learning
(which is at the vanguard of adaptive learning technology, Adaptive 3.0),
but the data and analytics we’re able to provide as a result of this
technology. Our platform condenses thousands of learner data points into the
top-line analytics that learning departments see as a key advantage not only
for the actual training but also to help in budget discussions for future
programs.

In fact, based on the data
capabilities and requests from our clients, we created Fulcrum Snapshot,
an assessment-oriented version of our adaptive training platform that empowers L&D departments to
pinpoint what each individual knows down to a single competency or skill
without having to first create a full adaptive learning program. With
Snapshot, organizations can assess skills mastery, identify areas of
application risk and assess current content and delivery systems for
continued improvement. This not only streamlines the training needs
assessment process and gives L&D departments a clear understanding of what
knowledge learners need to gain from training, it also tells L&D what
training/content is performing well against strategic objectives, and where
improvement is needed.

CEOCFO: Are clients
turning to you for real results as opposed to more sort of theoretical
results? Are people coming to you because they understand you can take that
approach where it is necessary?

Mr. Weir:
It started out, many years ago, as theoretical. We were involved in a number
of studies, namely a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation study of adaptive
technologies, which included many of the pioneers of adaptive technology. We
got a big boost from the results of this study, as it showed that our
platform was the only one able to improve both learning outcomes and also
increase course “satisfaction” for learners. Additionally, we’ve been
honored with seven consecutive Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards, based
on extensive case studies of our platform’s performance within real-world
organizations and its demonstrable ability to improve learning outcomes and
impact organizational bottom lines. And our clients and prospects have come
to rely on the “real”, applicable data that our platform provides across the
board– from our full adaptive training platform to our assessment product,
Snapshot.

CEOCFO: Would you
tell us about your partnership with onQ™?

Mr. Weir:We were introduced toonQ™ through a mutual third party. onQ’s technology peaked our curiosity
right away because in our adaptive platform, we support different learning
modalities, including a “Watch” modality, which typically contains
live-action footage, animation, motion graphics, interactive multimedia,
etc. Therefore, we saw an opportunity to extend the value added to our
customers when it came to video and if they wanted to utilize this
interactive communication social aspect inside a video. We see the potential
of this tool to further help us turn students into learners and reap the
rewards that come from that, such as a stronger, more collaborative learning
culture. onQ is one of many other supported thirty party technologies that
we offer our customers if they want to use in it in couplet with our
platform.

CEOCFO: How do you
reach out to potential clients, given that you work in a number of different
arenas, a pretty wide range?

Mr. Weir:
Despite organizational differences, one thing that unites most learning
professionals is their drive to continually improve processes and outcomes
and their desire to connect with their peers. If you’ve ever attended a
training industry show, you’ll see this in action. In fact, much of our
outreach is through word of mouth and warm introductions. Often, a client
tells a friend or colleague about how our platform helped their organization
save money on training and improve their learning culture, and we progress
from there. Additionally, we benefit from industry awards, media and our
Insights blog to educate people on the trends and impacts of personalized,
adaptive learning in the L&D space. So far, this is proved a fruitful
strategy for us.

CEOCFO: How do you
focus your time day to day as CEO?

Mr. Weir:As CEO, my number one
job is growing the company and it is my duty and role to make sure that
everyone in the company is set up for the most success. I have, what we
call, Tactical Mondays, so I am really focusing on the near term execution
in supporting the team. On Fridays we have, what we call “Strategic
Fridays”, where I use my Fridays to step back and start thinking more mid to
long term and what is the beacon and how do we continue to keep that mission
on route to move towards that longer term vision. That is how I bookend each
week. I also spend a lot of time talking with our partners and potential
partners. There’s no better way to understand the customer needs and gaps
then talking with them directly and learning about their strategic learning
& development objectives and where things are falling short. These
discussions allow me to come back and communicate to the product teams, the
engineering teams, and give them those insights.

CEOCFO: Why choose
Fulcrum Labs?

Mr. Weir:Naturally, we
get asked this a lot. With so much technology out there, it can be
challenging and a bit overwhelming for companies. We’ve contributed to
articles and written some posts to help people develop their own technology
rubric and choose the right adaptive partner. The short answer is: Fulcrum’s
training platform has demonstrated… and won numerous industry awards for…
its ability to reduce training times and costs; verify employee confidence
and skills mastery; identify those at risk of not applying the training;
evaluate the integrity of course content; and correlate on-the-job
performance data with learning data so the two are in lockstep.
Additionally, the platform can assess an organization’s training gaps and
the efficacy of existing L&D delivery systems. Most importantly, we’re told
over and over that we’re great collaborators. We want to understand the
specific business drivers of each customer and make sure we’re aligned from
the beginning in order to meet or exceed their strategic L&D objectives and
outcomes.

“Fulcrum’s platform’s AI and machine learning personalize an individual’s
learning path to set them up for the most success and also provide them with
the best learning experience, where they learn more, remember more and apply
more… As a SaaS platform provider, we want to empower our partners with the
best tools to improve and understand the performance of their employees and
their courses; and allow them to create and fine tune courses, with
confidence, based on data from the platform.”
- Patrick Weir